The View From the Outback© 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
A great deal of what we read in newspapers, magazines, and books, and what we see in the movies and on TV is written and produced in New York City or Los Angeles. Much of the "political wisdom" comes from the PR machines of the White House, the Congress, and from the Washington media corps.
In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood.
I am now a senior citizen. My experience was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries. That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 13 years. Every couple of weeks I will attempt to post a new set of musings from the Outback.
My apologies to anyone who watched MADtv based on my suggestion. They have lost some of
their better cast members. The brilliant Mo Collins cannot carry the show by herself. Carol
Burnett and Lucille Ball were comedic legends. They were both great comedic clowns. But, I
have never seen any female comedic actress with the range of Mo Collins. Sadly, the skit writing
on MADtv had gone downhill and it is now a tossup whether the writing is worse there than on
SNL on NBC.
Derek Jeter of the Yankees in a dress on SNL? How original. And how asinine for him to agree
to it. My other female comedic idol, Tina Fey, on the SNL Weekend Update, is also the show's
two head writers. Like Mo Collins, she cannot carry the whole load. I record both shows on a PVR
hard disk and get about 10 minutes of original and real comedy combined out of the two shows
each week. Some of this has to do with the fact that many of the young writers grew up not
reading fiction or watching the older classic TV comedies, but watching contemporary TV. What
can we expect from them? They had bad role models. Garbage in - garbage out.
Approximately $20 million was spent on Keiko the whale ("Free Willy") in his care and
rehabilitation to release him into the wild ocean. He was around humans for about 20 of his 23
years. I am no marine biologist, but how could anyone think that they could retrain the brain of a
whale that had cavorted with humans for 20 years and seemed to enjoy their company? After an
initial claim of success when Keiko was freed and started hanging out with other whales, he now
seems to be seeking out humans, his more-natural playmates. When local folks in Iceland were
asked about the situation, they were surprised that so much money had been spent on one whale.
They suggested that Kieko had it made in the shade in his picturesque bay, with regular meals
and exercise. Why would he want to go out to sea? Exactly. And $20 million is one whale of a
lot of money to spend on a project that probably had about a 5% chance of succeeding.
WordPerfect prints envelopes on my HP laserjet like a dream (using addresses from the Address
Book or lifted from the address line in a letter). But, for years I have been unable to pre-print
several envelopes to a single addressee - with one click of the Print button - such as envelopes to
the water company. Finally, I found a clue on the Web. Click on Envelope. Once your To and
From address are what you want, click on Append to Doc. This will open the envelope in a blank
document. Click on Print and set the number of copies you want. When finished Close the
document without saving it. You can also append the envelope to an existing document. That is
the only thing I thought the command was used for.
It is estimated that the economic loss to NYC as the result of 9/11 will be from $83 to $95
billion. The city has, for example, 83,000 less jobs than a year ago. I continue to wonder how the
WTC businesses ever reconstructed their files and computer records. Many did not, I'm sure. In
addition to all the other lessons learned, having offsite backups of your computer records is a
must.
You know that your marriage is in trouble when your wife comes in the door and runs to pet the
dog before she kisses you.
You can be forgiven if you did not watch the "American Idol Reunion" from Las Vegas. I
skipped through my PVR recording to listen only to Kelly Clarkson sing, and half a song by
Justin Guarini. Then, came a remarkable TV moment. Kelly said that her Idol was Reba
McEntire. On came Reba to sing an amazing dueling duet with Kelly. In truth, Kelly aced Reba
in several places with her beautiful vocal timbre and range. But, if those two don't make a duet
album, I will be surprised. I am not a C&W fan, but will watch Reba anytime she is on. She and
Kelly together were simply magical. A cocktail waitress from a small town singing note for note
with one of our biggest stars. It brought tears to my eyes - but I cry at football games. (It is unbelievable how many different spellings you find for Reba McEntire's last name. I am going with the one at reba.com)
When will we be able to stop marking every moment in our history as either "pre 9/11" or "post
9/11"? And when will the references to "Ground Zero" drop to less than a thousand a week?
Although the attacks were a cataclysmic event, and the first major attack on American soil, they
were neither the beginning or the end of our civilization. Soon, we as a nation need to start
putting the event into historical perspective.
When the concealed-weapon law first passed in Texas several years ago, the media lead an
hysterical outcry that there would be frequent shootouts in traffic, and that people would not be
safe in a restaurant or a business where these "gun toting" folks would be present. Signs were
very common which indicated that licensed gun-toters were not welcome (the statute provided an
option for this refusal of admittance). I personally wrote letters to businesses and visited many,
and told them how dumb the signs were. My background as a Federal agent who enforced the
gun laws, and one who had written about the subject for 20 years, seemed to sway many people.
They were running off good customers and were denying themselves a measure of security by not
allowing people whose criminal records were clear - and who had taken a safety and firing course
- to enter their premises. Many gun groups put pressure on businesses with threats of boycotts if
the signs stayed up. I no longer see many of the stupid signs. I also have not seen a newspaper or
a journalist apologize for their initial hysteria - and say "we were wrong."
Muslin scholars say that war is permitted in self defense or if another state is "oppressing a
section of its own people." "Jihad" is a positive term, and it means to struggle or to strive (toward
your personal best, or for a better society, or a better world). The use of "Jihad" to mean "holy
war" is a concept foreign to Islam. Quoting the Qur'an out of context can produce
misunderstandings, just as quoting from the Bible out of context can do.
(Update 10/07/02)
It has been many years since I lived in New Jersey. I watched an hour or so of the oral arguments before the N.J. Supreme Court on the issue of whether a new candidate could be substituted on the ballot for Sen. Robert Torricelli - who dropped out after the deadline date the statute provided for a substitute candidate. It seems that the people in Jersey have not had any significant conversion to civility since I lived there. The justices were rude and curt to the two attorneys I watched present their arguments. The judges were constantly interrupting the attorneys in mid sentence or mid thought. They embodied the abrasiveness, curtness, and impatient rudeness that I remember so well from my time in Philly and S. Jersey. It sounded more like "Judge Judy" than a supreme court of a very populous state. Judge Judy could probably have reached a better decision. If those clowns in N.J. don't get reversed on appeal, the election process will be in turmoil for years. Really study the issues involved in a late dropout of a candidate and the substitution of a new one, and you will see how many far-reaching ramifications there are.
Enough Already About the 9/11 Victim's Compensation Fund Feud
I finally had all I could take of the network news beating to death the argument over the federal
9/11 victims compensation fund. NBC evening news ran a piece about a lady who was scheduled
to get only $3 million but thought the amount should be $5 million. I fired off an e-mail to the
attention of Tom Brokaw, quoted here:
"Mr. Brokaw
What in the hell is the matter with you people in NYC and the media? Most people have grieved
for the victims until the emotional well is empty. Your piece on whether a surviving family at
Cantor Fitzgerald should receive $3 million or $5 million was tawdry and obscene. Do you have
any idea how many people who watch your show will never make $1 million in a lifetime? And
how many widows there are whose husbands died in car crashes, or of heart attacks, or whatever
- in middle age - and the family was left with possibly $50-100,000 in life insurance - total? And
how many of those widows had to sell their homes and go back to work, and whose kids could
not go to college? And they have to sit out here and hear some woman complain that she should
get $5 million instead of $3 million - from the government no less. The government did not pick
up the tab for those here in the heartland who lost loved ones.
Below is an excerpt from my column, "The View From the Outback." I hope you will print this e-
mail and circulate it around the newsroom. Also, read the header of my column. It should give
you something to think about there at 30 Rock. "
The View From The Outback by Richard C. Rhodes
How Long Should Americans Grieve For The 9/11 Victims and Families?
Battle of the Network Liars
Right up there with politicians, the PR people at the networks are in the running for the title of
"World's Biggest Liars." I was particularly offended when ABC ran a promo for "8 Simple Rules
for Dating My Teenage Daughter." As I recall, on the night that "Rules" was scheduled to debut,
they called it a "hit comedy." For heaven's sake, nobody had yet seen an episode. How could it
have been a "hit"? The "Rules" show first aired on a night when the other networks had no new
shows to air. So, "Rules" had a pretty big audience. Even I watched the piece of fluff just to
confirm my suspicions.
Next, they had the gall at ABC to promo the show as a "smash hit comedy," based on the fact
that it got good numbers on a night when there were no new competing shows. In the Nielsen ratings for Sept. 23 to 29, ABC's "Rules" was not even in the top 20. The only ABC show in the top 20 was "Monday Night Football." But, the network has ordered a full 22 episodes of "Rules." It does not take much to make them happy. Read that as "we are really desperate." And now, people will read that the network had ordered a full 22 episodes and think, "Gee, what am I missing?" Part of the brainwashing of the TV viewing public. So, when you
hear the words, "hit," "smash." and "rave," stick your finger down your throat and induce
vomiting before it overtakes you naturally.
A small digression. Jeff Zucker the boss at NBC entertainment was interviewed on "60 Minutes"
about the holy grail of TV demographics, the 18-39(49) age group. No wonder we see such
contempt on NBC for the older audience. Jeff Zucker is a 37-year-old smart-ass schmuck, and he
made no secret that he does not give a damn about the older audience. I am 70 and watch several
NBC shows, such as "Friends," "Law & Order," "Just Shoot Me," and "Frasier." I am going to
make a list of all the advertisers on those shows and make a concentrated effort never to buy any
product advertised on an NBC entertainment show. I want to help Mr. Zucker vindicate his
contempt for anyone over 49.
(Oct. 02, 2002) We now know that "Friends" will once again run 2-minutes long to keep viewers from switching to the start of a new program on another network. Although it is a waste of time, I suppose, I am sending an e-mail to the head of the FCC to complain that such tactics "are not in the public interest." (TV stations are required to operate in the "public interest.") I am also removing "Friends" from my recording schedule on my DishNetwork PVR. TIVO, DishNetwork, DirectTV, ReplayTV, all VCR manufacturers, and all the other networks, ought to sue NBC and the weasel Jeff Zucker for destroying their client's right to expect that a half-hour show will last one-half hour - and the ensuing problems that it causes in planning viewing and recording sessions. Jeff Zucker is an arrogant S.O.B., and I will send this piece to him, for what good it will do. I would really prefer to spend 10 minutes locked in a room at an undisclosed location with him. If you don't like his tactics, let him know at the address provided in the Media List at the end of this Outback (with a copy to NBC president, Andrew Lack in NYC).
Miss America Pageant Going Downhill
Beautiful young ladies must have found better things to do with their time than enter the Miss
America contest. I can never recall a more lackluster group as a whole than this year's
contestants. There is a checker at a grocery store in a nearby town who is prettier than most of the Miss America hopefuls. Many of the answers to the history and current events questions were simply embarrassing, remindful of the folks interviewed on segments of "Jay Walking" on the "Tonight Show." The TV audience was the lowest in the history of the pageant.
The winner, Erika Harold, is a pretty lady, and as smart as probably any winner in years. I have
been waiting for someone to refer to her as an African-American, and perhaps I simply missed
such an inevitable reference. An article on Newsmax.com described her father as of Greek,
German, and Russian descent and her mother as Native-American and African-American. An
article on the American Medical Association web site described her father as of Greek, German,
Welsh, and English descent and her mother as black, American Indian and Russian descent.
Whoever has it right, it would seem to qualify Erika for Miss Universe without having to show
up for the finals. Her only negative. She has been accepted into Harvard Law School. That will
mess up her mind completely. What is wrong with the University of Illinois in her home state? That
school would give her a better perspective on real life.
Senators Loco - A New TV Soap Opera in Mexico?
I don't watch Mexican TV, but I suspect that when referring to the U.S. Congress they throw in
"loco," "stupido," and "idiota."
Sen. Leahy has suggested that the West Nile Virus may be terrorist related. Okay, and AIDS is a
CIA plot against black people. Leahy is also chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that has
failed to bring to the floor votes on at least two judges whose confirmation hearings I watched.
Each had impeccable credentials and unanimous highest ratings from the American Bar
Association. The nominations never got out of committee because Leahy and that low-life from New
York, Charles Schumer, have decided that they are going to impose new rules for the Advise and
Consent function of the Senate.
The new Democratic rules are that all judicial nominees must have personal and political
ideologies that Leahy, Schumer, et al. are happy with. The subjects and questions that are raised
in these hearings are way out of bounds for either political party to ask. Judges of all political
stripes have shown that they can make judicial decisions independent of their personal beliefs.
And some who were appointed "even though they had a conservative bias" have turned out some
very liberal opinions and vice versa. Trying to predict how a judge will rule based on his or her
past writings or speeches is a very inexact business. It is a total rape of the historical role of the
Advise and Consent concept to do what the Judiciary Committee has done.
That nine people of either party can prevent an eminently-qualified judge from being voted on by
the entire Senate is repugnant. Pay attention. Your Senate is screwing this process up royally.
Republicans are saying flat out that if they get back into the majority in the Senate, there will be
payback. Republicans have in the past also stonewalled some nominees, but not like this current
set of Democratic thugs on the committee. They all need to atone on election day. Rodney King
for Senate. "Can't we all just get along?"
Sen. Torricelli from New Jersey is an interesting study. He is accused of accepting illegal
contributions, gratuities, and so on. Several reputable newspapers in New Jersey are calling for
him to resign. The word "crook" appears in many editorials. He has been admonished by the
Senate ethics panel, and may lose in the next election - because a lot of people in New Jersey
think he is a crook. Hey, I lived in Jersey. They know a crook when they see one.
Yet, the other day I watched him give a brilliant speech on the Senate floor. He is glib, fast,
smart, and articulate. He had me completely taken in, until I realized what was going on. The
discussion was about whether to appoint a commission to look into the failures that lead up to
9/11.
Torricelli spoke passionately about the victims from his state of New Jersey and the surviving
families - and went on and on about how the government owed them an explanation of its
failures in preventing 9/11. He overdid it and I finally woke up. So, here he was on the Senate
floor pouring his heart out about the need to bring closure for the victims.
Although it is a laudable goal, and I support the establishment of a commission, all I could think
about as Sen. Torricelli went on and on was "cover your ass with the voters who think you are a
crook." As compelling as his arguments were, the senators might have chosen a spokesperson
that day with a little more credibility.
There are many who say that the independent 9/11 commission is not needed, just let the joint
House and Senate intelligence panel continue its investigation. Even the President was against
the commission. But, when you hear the full debate, you have to conclude that the only way the
combined and complementary failings of the CIA, FBI, NSA, Customs, Coast Guard, Border
Patrol, and the INS can ever be determined -and fixed - is with a broad-based, no-holds-barred
investigation. Even the ranking Senate Republican on the joint committee, Sen. Shelby, has
complained that the intelligence agencies have not been forthcoming with requested information
and documents. CIA director, George Tenet, has said that the inquiry shows bias, animosity and
an attempt to "poison" the atmosphere surrounding the investigation.
Update: Sept. 30 5:30 p.m. CDT. I had the feeling I needed to get the foregoing posted today. My hunch was correct. Democratic Sen. Robert Torricelli dropped out of the Senate race today. A good decision.
Remembering Bob Hayes of the Dallas Cowboys
Bob Hayes is dead at age 59. Many people, other than Dallas Cowboy fans, remember him for
being at one time the fastest human alive and for his thrilling pass catches with the Cowboys. I
have two special memories of Bob.
In the early days of the Aerobics Center in Dallas, founder by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, we had a
contest each October. Anyone who ran or walked over 100 miles in that month received a
commemorative windbreaker at the award ceremony. One year, Bobby Hayes was handing out
jackets. I had run about 180 miles that month ( I belonged to the 5,000 mile club). But, there
were several in the group who ran in excess of 300 miles in the month. Bobby Hayes was
handing a jacket to one of the 300-plus milers. He paused with the jacket in his hand. "Man, I
have not run that far total in my entire life!" He went on to explain that as a dash man, he seldom
accumulated any real yardage total, and as a Cowboy he seldom ran more than 40 yards on a
play. He had a hard time comprehending that someone would run more than 300 miles in one
month - just for the hell of it.
One day I asked Roger Staubach, who was then the quarterback on the Cowboys, to throw me
some "slant patterns" on the grass at the Aerobics Center, where we had known each other for
several years. I lined up several times, ran about 15 yards, cut sharply, and the ball would arrive
in my chest with a thump. I would signal behind my back which way I was going to cut. Bob
Hayes came up to us in sweats and asked "Can I play defense?" Huh? Sure, Bobby, anything you
want.
I am pretty sure that Roger will back me up on this, and also one of the Cowboy tight ends, Jean
Fugett, who was observing from the shade of a tree. Because it is nearly impossible for one
defender to "cover" a slant pattern when the receiver cuts sharply and the ball is thrown properly
- and with a lot of mustard - in about 30 tries Bob Hayes never intercepted or knocked down a
Staubach pass. It took a long time for it to sink in, but in my 40s I had been playing pass and
catch with Roger Staubach and Bobby Hayes had been playing defense. In nearly 20 years at the
Aerobics Center, that was my most memorable day.
Homeland Security Department May be Doomed by Dispute Over Employee Rights
The Senate debate keeps coming back to one major sticking point. The President wants some
flexibility with regard to employee policies in the new HSD. Democrats insist on protecting all
Civil Service and union agreements and rules. Bush may veto the whole bill over this issue, and I
would applaud him for that. As I have noted several times, Civil Service and federal unions are
part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Why take a bunch of agencies that are nearly useless, like INS - in large part due to "employee
protection rights" - and meld them into a single agency with no change in personnel policies?
That is like saying you can improve the worst corporation in the world by merging it with the
best, but you must accept the old hiring, firing, discipline, and promotion practices of the poorly-
performing corporation after the merger. Really smart.
Here is another sample of what you get with Federal government unions. In my post office there
are about 300 Post Office Boxes in the lobby. A 10-year-old child who can read could be taught
how to sort the mail for the boxes in about eight hours. And the efficiency rate might be as high
as 99%. My PO Box has two numbers. On a recent day, there were three pieces of mail
in my box which were properly machine-addressed to three separate other boxes. This is simply
pathetic. It happens to other patrons all the time. I would write the Postmaster General, but he
won't get the letter for about three months due to the anthrax screening in another city. And he
couldn't do anything about it. He is hamstrung by the union. Only God can help us, and he
doesn't seem inclined to embrace the subject.
Although not a government union, the current dispute on the West Coast docks ought to be an eye-opener for those who think that unions are mainly beneficial in keeping management from being abusive - in terms of salary, benefits, or work conditions. The longshoremen (those are the guys and gals who unload cargo from ships) are holding the entire economy of the country hostage over some outdated and outrageous demands. For one, they don't want the introduction of scanners to track inventory, since it might cause some jobs to be lost. Never mind that it would speed up the transition of goods off the ships and to their ultimate destinations - much of it perishable in nature.
The average wage of the dock workers is $80,000 to $160,000! My hands shook with emotion when I read that! I could not finish reading the paper until I had calmed down several hours later. There are a lot of lawyers, doctors, MBAs, nurses, teachers, and so on, who do not, or never will, get paid $160,000 a year. So, what we have is a union that has engaged in extortion all these years and gotten away with it. Their Democratic protectors have seen to it that the industry does not even come under the Railway Labor Act, which allows the federal government to intervene in strikes in industries engaged in "vital transportation." If the movement of a substantial portion of goods feeding our economy is not "vital transportation," then what is?
Once this current confrontation by the longshoremen is over, let's hope that citizens will demand reforms. If ever a union needed to be busted, this is it! What a challenge for legislatures (state and federal), federal investigative agencies, management, journalists, and the politicians who have allowed this high-priced stranglehold on our ports to go on year after year. Those folks on the docks make Tony Soprano look like a cub-scout leader.
There is a Pulitzer Prize out there for anyone who can expose the strong-armed tactics, probable illegal political contributions, and general violations of the law that have allowed this union to become master extortionists. The trick for the reporter(s) will be to stay alive to finish the reporting. Giving up a $160,000 income for lifting some boxes or running a crane or a forklift will not come without a fight - and some of that could involve baseball bats, knives, large hunks of chain, and guns. So be it.
The New USB 2.0 External Hard Drives
Since I was nearly out of debt, I had to buy something! It is a 40 gigabyte USB 2.0 hard drive
from Buslink. It actually contains a Quantum Fireball hard drive. It comes with the required
AC/DC power supply needed for the HD. Windows XP Service Pack 1 has drivers for USB 2.0,
and the Buslink HD comes with drivers on CD-ROM for Win 98, Win 98/SE, Win ME, Win
2000, and XP. There is also a five-port (one is internal) USB 2.0 PCI card. My newest P4 has
internal motherboard support for USB 2.0. So I put the USB 2.0 card in my older P4 machine and
installed the Win ME USB 2.0 drivers from the CD-ROM.
The drive works great, and I am backing up huge folders from both my P4 machines by swapping
the drive to the USB 2.0 ports. It will also work if you have USB 1.1 ports, such as I am stuck
with on my PIII Win98/SE laptop. But USB 2.0 is 40 times faster than the USB 1.1 ports. When
power is left on all the time, the drive case gets very warm. I have taken to turning off the DC
switch on the back until I need to transfer some files.
One other thing is troublesome. I cannot tell if my data is actually being transferred at USB 2.0
rates. The drive instructions say that an Amber light comes on when it is transferring at the old
1.1 rate and Green when it is working at 2.0 speeds. Mine seems to always be Amber (1.1). I
have checked the drivers in the XP Device Manager and they all seem to be the new XP USB 2.0
drivers (Microsoft USB Driver 5.1.2600.0). The USB tree also shows NEC PCI to USB
Enhanced Host Controller (B1), which is supposed to be the USB 2.0 controller, as I understand
all of this. And the USB Mass Storage Device is listed as a USB 2.0 Hard Drive.
I did one test on the P4 with Win ME and the add-in USB 2.0 card versus the USB 1.1 ports that
came on the motherboard. A large folder copied from the internal HD to the USB 2.0 HD in 40
seconds on the USB 1.1 port and about 6 seconds on the USB 2.0 port on the PCI card that came
with the USB HD. For now, that is good enough proof for me. Muy rapido, Jose.
I will keep looking for a way to measure the actual throughput, maybe with a benchmark
program from PC Mag or the like. But, I can find no single utility on the Internet that will measure USB
2.0 throughput speeds.
At either USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 speeds, the flexibility of having an external 40 Gig drive to back up and
transfer large chunks of data (without burning a CD) among my XP, Win ME, and Win98SE
machines is a delight. I can even back up my MP3 files, which would take several CDs to hold.
And I can put the USB HD in the safe or carry it with me - in case there is a fire or theft at the
house.
(Info: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q 312370, "Universal Serial Bus 2.0 Support in
Windows XP.")
COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
You are welcome to quote sections from this page - or the whole page, as long as the source URL is included. Of course, I would be flattered if anyone linked to this page. It is very hard to be the writer, editor, fact checker, copy editor, and publisher of anything. So, I welcome corrections of fact, notes of misspelled words, and so on.
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